Bush winning world leaders to U.S. side against Iraqi threat

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Bush said Saturday he is gathering world leaders to his view that Saddam Hussein is a menace who must be stopped.

He said the Iraqi leader "has made the case against himself" with his long history of defiance of international demands.

"The issue is straightforward," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "We must choose between a world of fear, or a world of progress. We must stand up for our security and for the demands of human dignity. By heritage and choice, the United States will make that stand. The world community must do so as well."

In the midst of seeking support abroad and on Capitol Hill for confronting Saddam, Bush was outlining his case to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

Bush was meeting with the Italian leader at Camp David on Saturday, the second weekend in a row of war diplomacy at the presidential retreat in Maryland. Last Saturday Bush conferred with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The summit takes place two days after Bush pressed the U.N. Security Council to address Saddam's repeated defiance of international resolutions. If the Iraqi dictator refuses to disarm, Bush declared, "action will be unavoidable."

The Italian premier has called preventive military action legitimate if Baghdad doesn't change its ways. But he also said Friday that force should only be used by international agreement.

Several allies have "called on the world to act," Bush said in his address, ticking off a list that, besides Berlusconi, included Blair, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

"These leaders have reached the same conclusion I have  that Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself," Bush said.

All 15 members of the Security Council agree with Bush's assertion that Saddam threatens international security, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday after a series of meetings in New York.

Bush picked up critical support from the four other permanent, veto-wielding council members  Russia, China, Britain and France  on the need for a deadline, though not on a date. The foreign ministers of the Security Council's permanent members said jointly that Iraq's refusal to obey past U.N. resolutions "is a serious matter and that Iraq must comply."

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said "the Iraqi government will take responsibility itself for possible consequences" if Saddam refuses to cooperate with the United Nations.

A resolution must be drafted  with talks continuing into next week  setting a deadline for the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq. And a consensus must be reached on what action to take if Saddam continues to reject such an arrangement.

Indeed, Powell told The Associated Press he did not seek  or win  backing from any council member for the use of force, as Bush has said may be necessary.

Bush himself was skeptical Saddam would capitulate.

"I am highly doubtful that he will meet our demands. I hope he does but I'm highly doubtful," Bush told reporters Friday.